The Bernard van Leer Foundation is a private grant-making foundation. Our mission is to improve opportunities for children up to age 8 who are growing up in socially and economically difficult circumstances. We see this both as a valuable end in itself and as a long-term means to promote more cohesive, considerate and creative societies with equal opportunities and rights for all.

Latest news from the Bernard van Leer Foundation

The government of Flanders has changed the access criteria for childcare, to favour more vulnerable families. Michel Vandenbroeck, of the University of Ghent and foundation partner VBJK, believes foundation-funded activities have contributed significantly to the climate which brought this change about.

The East Africa Clearing House on Childrens Rights and Welfare is now online, sharing research on children's matters in the region. The Bernard van Leer Foundation is among numerous partners who have collaborated with UNESCO's Nairobi Education Office to bring this resource into existence.

Foundation partner ANE invites your engagement in a conference to be held in Berlin next March 2-3, entitled Democratic Education in a New Europe – Challenges for Parents and Families. Read more about the conference here, and see also the minutes (pdf) of a networking meeting held last month involving various European organisations to lay the groundwork both for the conference and for a future network addressing the same topic.

"The future of mankind has its roots in the past, and only through understanding our history can we work together to create a better future for the generations to come": read a feature article (pdf) on foundation partner the Bible Lands Museum of Jerusalem, published recently in Essence magazine by Israel's Haaretz newspaper.